Sakhalin understand · Sakhalin tourist information
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Sakhalin tourist information
Sakhalin tourist information
Sakhalin has been inhabited by several indigenous tribes since the stone age, The Ainu people, also present on Hokkaido in Japan, populated the southern half of the island, and while a small group of Sakhalin Ainu is still present on the island, most were repatriated to Japan after the end of WWII. The largest group of the islands original population is the Nivkh tribe of the northern taigas.
Sakhalin has long been the scene of a power struggle between the major Asian powers: Russia, Japan and even the Chinese Qing Empire have put forward claims on the island. In the 17th century both Japan and Russia started colonizing the island, from different ends, dividing the island into a northern Russian part and a southern Japanese part. Aside from a 25 year period at the end of the 19th century, the island remained divided until the waning days of WWII, when Soviet troops broke through the defensive line and invaded the Japanese half. After the end of the war, the Japanese and Ainu people were forcefully repatriated to Japan, while a sizable Korean minority – brought by the Japanese into forced labour camps – remained on the island and were denied repatriation until the last years of Soviet rule, though many still remain on Sakhalin.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Sakhalin has experienced an oil boom with Russian and foreign oil companies pouring into the island, bringing with it much needed investment in the islands infrastructure. This comes with a price though, as pipelines and logging pose a significant threat to the island's spectacular nature. There have also been complaints that the many oil dollars pouring in aren't benefiting the island's population.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Sakhalin
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Sakhalin - updated May 2024
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Sakhalin Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.